You Know Your Tired When....

Tonight I was doing some last minute things before going off to bed when the phone rang.

It was quite late and I was wondering who would be calling at such a ridiculous hour.

But I answered it.

Hello...

Silence...

Hello.....

Then I just listened and continued picking up clothes off the floor.

There was only a little noise on the other end. Kind of like swish, swish...swish, swish.

Then my tired brain clicked and it took me only a couple of seconds to realize that the swish of the phone coincided with every time I bent over to pick something else up.

You see my cell phone was in my pocket and when I was bending over I pressed a button and I HAD CALLED MYSELF :) !!!!!!

So without saying anything else......I am going to bed :)

HELLO MONDAY :)

Yes it's Monday, a fresh new start to a forcast of promised sunshine for the week. YEAH!

It's 9:45 am an this is what has happened in my day already.

I was feeding Josiah when I heard a 2 yr. old scream come from the laundry room.

I went in there to see what was going on when Jesse promptly informed me that Nathan had spilled paint in the porch. (Still not sure why the 2 yr. old was screaming!) And like any mom the words 'spilled paint' got my ears perked up pretty quickly. I almost dreaded to go into the porch , but I did. And before me I saw indeed spilled paint. Nathan 'somehow' got the lid off the paint can and it dumped on the tile floor. Inwardly I mourned the fact that I had not put that paint can away yesterday when I saw it in the porch. But half of me thought it was an empty one and would do no harm. WRONG! I cheerfully tried not to get upset as Nathan was quite beside his quiet self already and appalled that he would 'somehow' do such a thing :) He had already desparately tried to clean it up on his own, thus ALL the rags from the rag drawer were in the puddle of paint and he was already getting a pail of water ready to water it down and spread it around more wash it up. Thank you Lord that I got there when I did! But the paint is cleaned up, Nathan has apologized and I just hope we don't have any more spills today because, WE ARE OUT OF RAGS.

I thought I did pretty good, I kept my cool through this ordeal, this is going to be a good day. Well sometime in the midst of me cleaning up the paint, Mikaya must have gotten her clothes wet when washing her hands and decided to change, by herself! I guess she had a hard time finding her clothes because she proceeded to pull out all the sheets and diapers off the shelf in the baby room. I think she was looking for pants because she already had a shirt on. Then I looked up and saw the shirt she was wearing!

How do you get upset at that?

In the middle of ALL this the ferrier showed up a couple of hours early. That was not a problem. I was glad we could get that over with and get on with our day. I went out to pay him and came into an entrance that looked like this. Obviously someone was looking for something and didn't find it and then cleaned it all up like any well trained Pauls child would do and decided we should clean it up and then disappeared :)

But with all this said I am thankful for another day to learn to love my kids in spite of their shortcomings and I am again reminded of how my Heavenly Father is so patient with me in spite of my failures.

The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger,

and plenteous in mercy. Psalm 103:8

Saddle Up Those Horses

Since we now have 3 ridable horses the girls like to get up early and ride together.

So this morning I rubbed my sleepy eyes and went out and took some video of them.

Enjoy!

There is a season for everything.......

I just came in from outside and I am dusty, dirty, smelly and itchy. But I couldn't be more happy because.......

Our harvesting season is here!!

YEAH!!!

It's been a season of patience around here. Seeding was later this spring and with all the late rains harvest has been put on hold. So we were very glad today when we could finally put some barley in the bins. We are praying for many more sunny days ahead so we can continue harvesting the rest of our fields. In the meantime we are so thankful for every sunny minute, hour and day that we get! Thank you Lord!

From Generation to Generation

We butchered some chickens today. We have been doing about 10-15 per week. We started this season with around 70 and after today we are down to 13. YEAH!

While I was cleaning out yet another bird I had an audience. (well actually I usually have an audience!) But this time it was Mikaya.

As any little girl does she was watching everything I did very intently. You know, the every move I made, kind of watching.

At one point my hair was in my eyes so I was blowing up to get it out because I didn't want to touch it with my ummmmm....YUCKY hands.

Mikaya then started making the same noise, blowing toward the chicken that I was cleaning.

And then I realized because I had blown, she thought this was all part of the chicken cleaning process! I then explained to her that I was just getting the hair out of my eyes.

Kind of reminded me of the story I heard once about the lady who would always cut the tip of the roast off before she would put it her roaster to cook. One day someone asked her why she did that. She replied, "Because that's what my mom always did." That got her to thinking, "why did her mom cut the tip off the roast?" so she asked her. Her mom replied with a chuckle, "Because my pot was too small"

I could just imagine Mikaya when she was a mom blowing on her chicken as she is cleaned it and her children asking why she did it!!!!

And today this was just another reminder that I am being watched. Watched by many pairs of eyes. This time it was cleaning a chicken, but every day they are also watching how I react to the circumstances that come my way . Am I showing them a godly example or do they see me react according to the lust of my flesh? Too many times my children have reflected my bad attitude, my lack of self-control, a quick tempered spirit and it bothers me because I know it is my flaw that they have picked up from me. I know every child is born with a sin nature and there are many sinful actions that don't have to be taught, but I also know that children learn by example. What do I teach them?

And when the day comes that I stand before my God to give account of all I have done on this earth, both good and evil, is He going to be able to say to me, "Well done thou good and faithful servant." Will He be able to tell me that because of my faithfulness to Him and His Word, my children were impacted, and their children, and their children......generations. This is what I desire. Not to be so distracted by the temporal things of today, but instead to act and react with eternity as my focus.

We will not hide them from their children;

we will tell the next generation

the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD,

his power, and the wonders he has done.

He decreed statutes for Jacob

and established the law in Israel,

which he commanded our forefathers

to teach their children, so the next generation would know them,

even the children yet to be born,

and they in turn would tell their children.

Then they would put their trust in God

and would not forget his deeds

but would keep his commands.

Psalm 78: 4-7

Like Father Like Son?

And since we are on the theme of family resemblance, what about this?

All In The Family

19 years ago

Today

Can you tell they are brothers?

Trip Part ?????

Well it seems like it is taking a really long time to post all our trip pictures. I think I stalled on this particular part because I was overwhelmed in trying to pick what to share with you about this leg of our journey.

For me visiting the Munck's was the best part of our trip. It was so great to connect again. It really almost seemed like we imagined the special connection we had made in February when they came to visit. But pretty much as soon as we drove up to their house the visiting began and the bond we had was only strengthened.

We enjoyed our time there talking, swimming, eating (even though Laura's new was stove hadn't arrived yet, the girls and her made us delicious meals), touring the area, shopping (Laura was kind enough to take me to some second hand stores), playing in the playground, working at the store, coloring, biking, white water rafting......and really, too much to mention. Arthur, Laura and their family were amazing hosts and we immediately felt at home. Thanks so much again to all of you for a great time in Tennessee! Here are SOME pictures of our time together.

Our twin vans!

Here are some of our 19 children eating together.

The girls all ready to go on a bike ride.

The older girls who weren't working at the store would take the little ones out and do things like go to the park with them. That was such a blessing as you can imagine there was a lot of energy that needed to be let off :)

I think this was the preferred mode of transportation for these guys!

Can you guess what is holding everyone's attention so intently?

Coloring Time

The kids did lots and lots of swimming in the Munck's pool. It was a great opportunity for the little boys to practice their strokes. They were much better swimmers by the time we left. The pool was so warm. Not even close to our cool Manitoban waters!

Of course while the kids were swimming Laura and I spent many hours chatting. We had a lot to catch up on!

And the guys did their fair share of talking too :)

Of course no visit would be complete without Uncle Arthur's stories! Can you tell how well he hold everyone's attention!

On Saturday we visited a Mennonite farmer's market. It was really neat to see the place that Arthur and Laura have mentioned so often. We were amazed at how big their produce was already.

This is a wagon full of watermelon. We taste tested some and it was delicious!

The horses on a treadmill pumping water.

Here's the whole group the morning we said our goodbyes.

So there you have a glimpse of our time together. Really no pictures can even do justice to the great time that was had by all! Thank you once again to all of the Munck's for being such amazing hosts and for your friendship. We look forward to our next visit together.

Memories Monday (by Jennifer)

Buckle your seat belts!

We're going rafting with the Muncks!

Here we are getting a wardrobe prep talk (trust me, it is difficult to put those helmets on!)

Everyone needed a little help "dressing up"

Here is the crew (left to right) Amanda Munck, Megan, Rebecca Munck, Me (Jennifer), Kerri and Dad, Oh by the way Dad came along to keep us all safe......

Ya Dad, self-control, it's picture time :)

We all loaded in the bus for a ride up the river

The girls

This is our guide, he has been riding the rapids for 9 years.

Here he is telling us what to do when... oops.... if we fell out!

Down to the river

Almost there!

Here we go! We went through one of the largest rapids right at the beginning. Way to break us in!

Whenever we got to a "dangerous" rapid the call was "GET DOWN"

Here we are trying to get back into a rapid..... paddling upstream!

Made it.....

LOTS OF FUN!!!!

Spotted the camera man!

At one point, near the end of the trip.... the guide asked us if we wanted to take the wild ride or the "safe" ride..... being the adventurous, fun loving bunch that we are......

We took the WILD RIDE!!!

IT WAS WILD!!!

Dad is convinced that I pushed him in :) Thankfully it was all caught on camera.....what do you think?

I kind of landed on top of him.... can you see his helmet and my foot?

BECKA!!! Why are you LAUGHING?????

Me, safe.... Dad, not so sure..... BECKA, STILL LAUGHING!!!

Daddy's girls all started getting worried.

Dad cool as a cucumber riding out the wave.

Finally through the rapid. It may be a matter of opinion, but I think that falling in was the most fun part of the whole ride! (yes, just to let you know..... I am adventurous, I was hoping we would fall in :)

Pulling into the harbor safe and sound (much to mom's relief:)

Thanks to the Muncks and Ocee Inn River Rafting for all the fun! Also to the Moms and Liz for taking care of all the kiddos!

Also thank you to Uncle Arthur who took these great shots.